


If you can't hear the thunder (there ain't no storm)

by TV_addict_86



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Eventual Romance, F/M, Friendship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-27
Updated: 2016-03-14
Packaged: 2018-05-23 12:53:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6117067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TV_addict_86/pseuds/TV_addict_86
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After a falling out Felicity Smoak and Tommy Merlyn are forced to work together on a project involving QC and MG. Does working together help them work through issues that have been left unresolved for over a year? And what happens when Tommy's best friend and catalyst for Felicity and Tommy's falling out shows up out of the blue after having disappeared off the face of the earth months ago?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve been writing down drabbles here and there, but I never had the guts to actually post anything online, I wanted to change that. So I looked for a prompt, found one that immediately sparked my interest and muse and proceeded to write 2400 words! This was first posted on Tumblr, just like Finding Home Again, from now on I'll post updates here on AO3. No beta, so any mistakes are my own.  
> Any and all comments would be sincerely appreciated!
> 
> The prompt I used was by @putthepromptsonpaper: “I thought I was dead to you” “Congratulations on your resurrection” 
> 
> Thank you for the inspiration! I’m not sure yet about proper Tumblr etiquette, but a thank you is a pretty safe bet right?

**Chapter One**

She really didn’t want to do this. She hadn’t spoken to him in over a year with good reason, so to be riding the elevator up to the floor she knew he’d be, with the express purpose of meeting him, was the very last place she wanted to be today. Or any day really, but meeting him today was just the icing on the crapcake that today was.

\--------------------------

Knowing she’d have to see him today, talk to him even, swallowing her pride to do so, she decided to get up an hour earlier than usual. That way she had a little extra time to spend on hair and make-up, and to make sure the outfit she’d laid out the day before was just right. She didn’t usually spend a lot of time on those things, but she figured a little extra confidence garnered from a perfect look wouldn’t hurt.

Her day had gone fine right up to the moment she pulled the front door of her townhouse closed behind her. As soon as she’d closed the door she realised she’d left her house keys on the kitchen counter. Not that big a deal in and of itself, she still had her car keys so she could get to work and then swing by Naomi’s at the end of the day to pick up her spare, but that was just the first in the string of misfortune that she would encounter during the day. Two blocks from Queen Consolidated her car had given up, without giving any indication as to why. It had just started stalling. Fortunately she’d been able to steer it to the side of the road, where she could leave it parked safely. She would have to call the garage later to see what they could do, because right now she had to get to work. Deciding she could walk the two blocks left, she got out of the car and locked it, giving it an encouraging pat on the hood before she started walking. She would not let a few incidents ruin the confidence she’d built up in herself so carefully this morning.

After a block and a half her shoe got stuck in a piece of cracked pavement, breaking the heel and causing her to stumble. Thankfully she didn’t actually fall face first into the puddle that was right in front of her, because that would have just been perfect wouldn’t it? Letting out a shaky breath before steeling herself once more she exchanged her heels for the flats she kept in her purse. ‘Don’t focus on the broken heel,’ she told herself, ‘focus on the puddle you did not face-plant in. Count your blessings, chin up and just keep going.’ And she did. She made it to Queen Consolidated and up to her office almost fifteen minutes before the weekly team meeting. She would have liked to have a little more time to start up her day and prepare for the meeting, but at least she wasn’t late to that and nobody would notice her less than perfect start. Just keep counting those small blessings.

During the team meeting she confirmed she would be out of the office at the end of the afternoon for her meeting at Merlyn Global, to finalize the details on a joint project one of her co-workers had been working on. Unfortunately that co-worker had accepted a job-offer with immediate effect which prevented him from finishing their department’s part of the project. No big deal, she was more than capable to take over the project, she just didn’t want to. She had tried to get it assigned to basically anyone else in the department, but she was the best and everyone knew it. Jumping in at the last minute on a project like this meant that the most logical choice would be for the most capable employee to get assigned. She couldn’t fight logic. It just meant that she would have to meet with possibly her least favourite person on the planet – well, least favourite she knew personally anyway, there had to be a few dictator-types that would win that particular contest. More-over, she had to be polite to him. She was responsible for the IT part of the project now, which was nothing to sneeze at, but he was in charge of the entire project. If he wasn’t happy with her work, it would not be good for her position in QC and that would throw off her five year plan. Yes, she actually had a five year plan and it was going really well for her so far. She wasn’t going to let Tommy Merlyn of all people destroy that.

It was nearing lunchtime when Felicity found herself staring out the window, imagining all the different ways that afternoon could go horribly wrong. No, she wasn’t doing this, it was going to be fine, she just needed a bagel and a latte to reinforce her confidence a little. Figuring she wouldn’t get anything else from her to-do list done before lunch, she got up and walked over to Curtis while putting on her coat. “Hey, I’m taking lunch a little early, can I bring anything back for you?” she asked him. She got along with most of her colleagues, but Curtis was pretty much the only one she was actually friends with. “No thanks, I’m meeting Paul for lunch later!” He answered with a wide grin on his face. “Alright, see you in a little bit.” She said as she turned to walk towards the elevator bank. “Hey!” Curtis called after her, “I meant to ask earlier, why are you wearing your emergency flats?” She scrunched her face as she kept walking, not wanting to revisit her morning of bad luck “Don’t ask, it’s not a good story.” she grumbled. “Oh Felicity, your stories are always great when you pretend they’re not!” he called after her.

She just stepped out of the bistro, finishing her latte she had gotten to go on her way back to QC when a raindrop hit her on her wrist. She tried to ignore it and kept walking, but not two steps in the drops started to come down faster and faster. ‘Oh no’ she thought ‘no, no, no this is not happening!’ The sky was freaking blue as far as she could see damn it! So how is it raining right now?! Almost as soon as she was thinking it the clouds she hadn’t noticed behind her rolled in further, casting the street in a faint shady-orange glow. It was a beautiful sight and usually Felicity loved the stormy weather that would follow. She loved to curl up on her couch with a hot cup of cocoa and a good book while the rain poured against the windows and the wind howled around the house. What she didn’t love however, was being outside in this weather without an umbrella while she still had half a workday to go. Not to mention the meeting from hell this afternoon! All the hard work she’d put in this morning to straighten her hair and put on her make-up was getting undone as she started running, hoping to get inside before the storm really hit. As soon as she stepped through the doors of QC she realised her mistake however, because now in addition to looking like a drowned cat she could feel the clamminess of sweat on her back. She really needed to actually go to the gym she had a membership to, because that short run should not have gotten her so out of breath, let alone start sweating because of it!

Great, now instead of having reinforced her confidence, she’d managed to wash every last bit of it off in the rain. The universe was probably just trying to tell her to keep her promise not to ever speak to him again or even acknowledge his existence. Clearly the universe didn’t get things like ‘steady employment’ or ‘performance review’. Or you know, ‘raise’ or ‘promotion’! Gah, she did not need this today of all days. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Curtis greeting Paul, who was waiting for him in the lobby of QC – umbrella in hand - with a quick kiss and a hug. She swooned a little bit at the cute couple while being just a little bit annoyed that Paul was apparently psychic and had known it would rain today. Scolding herself for being annoyed about someone else being better prepared than she was, she made her way to her office to clean herself up a little bit and complete the tasks left on her to-do list. She was a professional after all and wouldn’t let these setbacks reflect poorly on her work. When it was almost time to make her way over to Merlyn Global, she called a cab and touched up her make-up. As soon as she’d managed to salvage it as much as could be expected with the limited supply of make-up she carried around in her bag, she got a call from reception that her cab was waiting.

\--------------------------

The elevators at MG had better music than the elevators at QC. It’s strange the things you notice when you’re trying with everything you’ve got not to think about what’ll happen next. The elevator slowed as it reached the floor she was heading to and she lifted her chin and squared her shoulders. Even without perfect hair and make-up and unfortunately with the slight lingering smell of sweat she hadn’t been able to completely conceal with perfume, she was still a very capable and valued employee of QC and she wasn’t going to let him forget that. She stepped off the elevator and walked as directed through the hallway on her right until she was met with a middle-aged woman with dark curls, a friendly yet efficient smile and professional posture sitting behind a desk in front of the glass wall behind which she could already see him reading the papers on his desk.

“Hi, I’m Felicity Smoak, I have a meeting with Mr. Merlyn.” She told the woman confidently. And if it came out a little bit more like a question than a statement than she would have liked, well, Tommy couldn’t hear her yet anyway. “Take a seat Miss Smoak, Mr. Merlyn will be right with you.”

She took a seat on the sofa she hadn’t seen right away, because she’d been distracted by the sight of Tommy behind his desk. He actually seemed focused and comfortable, like he was exactly where he wanted to be, maybe even where he was supposed to be. She knew she was a few minutes early, so she took her tablet out of her bag and reread a few of the key points they were supposed to agree on today for them to be able to meet the deadline that was set at the start of the project. However, by the time she had reread those points, had tried to approach and defend her point of few from a few different angles she thought Tommy might lean towards, and had updated her calendar and answered several emails, she was pretty sure it was almost fifteen minutes later than the appointment she had set with Tommy’s secretary.

She got up and walked over to the secretary’s desk again, but just as she was about to open her mouth to ask why she hadn’t been asked inside yet, the secretary already spoke up: “I’m sure it’s just a few more minutes Miss Smoak, Mr. Merlyn is a very busy man.” Felicity smiled what she hoped was a polite smile and nodded, before she sat back down. When five minutes later Tommy hadn’t given even the slightest sign that he knew she was waiting outside, she stood up again. This time she beat the secretary to it, she said “I’m aware Mr. Merlyn is a busy man, that’s why I made an appointment. I can also understand that sometimes meetings run late or an unexpected phone call has to be taken, causing someone as busy as Mr. Merlyn to not be able to meet his next appointment on time, but you and I can both see he isn’t in a meeting nor on the phone right now so I’d like to know why on earth I’m not in there discussing the project that will help both Queen Consolidated and Merlyn Global to expand their business!”

The friendly smile that had adorned the secretary’s face when Felicity had first walked in had frozen slightly and she realised she might have gone off on her a little more than the situation warranted. “I’m sorry, I know you’re just doing your job, but could you please ask Mr. Merlyn if he’s ready to see me yet?” She asked in a milder voice while rubbing her forehead with the tips of her right hand. The smile on the secretary’s face thawed a little again. “Certainly, Miss Smoak. Kindly take a seat and I’ll go see what’s the hold-up.”

Felicity was pretty sure she knew what the hold-up was. He was probably making her wait just to throw her off balance. She didn’t want to see him and she had no reason to suspect he was looking forward to this meeting any more than she was. As she walked back to the sofa, she saw the secretary approach Tommy’s desk and quietly speak to him. He answered her, without looking out to where Felicity was sitting once. When he focused his attention back on his papers the secretary came walking out of the office towards the sofa where she’d taken her seat again. “Mr. Merlyn will see you now; go right on in Miss Smoak.”

Felicity was completely prepared to ignore their history and approach this meeting as if she didn’t know Tommy. He completely stunned her when the first thing out of his mouth to her was: “I thought I was dead to you.” Tommy, apparently, was unwilling to overlook history for the sake of working together. “Congratulations on your resurrection” came spilling out of her own mouth, without her giving any permission to her mouth to utter words before thinking them through. So, all those months she’d spent training her brain-to-mouth filter apparently went out the window when faced with Tommy Merlyn. Great, this was shaping up to be an even more disastrous meeting than she had anticipated.

\--------------------------


	2. Chapter two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to get this up the weekend before last, but that might have been slightly too ambitious. I had significantly more trouble writing this chapter than last, not quite sure why but I hope you guys will like it anyway!  
> I'd love to hear what you think!

**Chapter two**

 

_“Congratulations on your resurrection”_

What the hell was she thinking?! She wasn't, that was probably the problem. But instead of the brush off or anger she was expecting, she noticed a slight uptick of his mouth right before she saw the shutters come down over his eyes again.

He didn’t seem to have changed all that much. His always so easy smile didn’t appear as easy as it used to, but he looked to be the same Tommy she remembered. She wasn’t quite sure whether this was a good thing or a bad thing.

She pushed the inside of her wrist to her forehead, willing anymore stray thoughts to stay inside her head. “Can we… Can we not do this now?”

She let out a sigh as she walked over to the chair across from where he sat at his desk and took a seat. The few rays of sunshine that managed to escape through the clouds broke in the raindrops that hadn’t yet evaporated and were still stuck to the wall of windows behind his desk. Because of this, little rainbows played on the papers that Tommy had been working on while she had been waiting to be let into the office.

Other than the pile of paperwork, she only saw a phone, stapler and several pens – neatly held together in a generic black pencil holder – on his desk. The pieces of art on the only two walls that weren’t made up of glass, were both abstracts done in different shades of blue. In one corner of the office stood a conference table that only held a carafe and stack of water glasses while the small filing cabinet in the other corner didn’t have anything displayed on its flat surface.

Neither had a single speck of dust on them.

If he hadn’t been sitting right there at his desk she wouldn’t have been able to guess this was his office, even though she knew he’d been working here for longer than she’d been at QC.

“You know, Felicity, you were the one that never wanted to speak to me again, not the other way around.” His eyes, usually so bright, were just pools of darkness now. It was like she was looking through the surface of a cool, still lake.

That’s something that was different about him, she thought, he didn’t used to be this cut off. Not even during the quiet talks in the middle of the night, when he would show up at her doorstep because his dad had once again earned his father-of-the-year award. You know if it was given to someone who had the _least_ resemblance to an actual father figure. It was a running gag between them, a little gallows humor to lighten the darkness of those nights.

Or it used to be.

Even then, his eyes had held emotion, be it anger, sadness or this specific kind of hopelessness, built through years of missed soccer games, birthdays and other events a boy wants his father to attend, his eyes could speak volumes. Now, they were just as cold as the office he occupied; an office in his dad’s company.

“I... Yeah, I know.” She let her eyes drop to her hands and noticed a smudge of mascara on the side of her thumb. As she tried to wipe it off she continued “But you know that applies to our personal lives, maybe we could just-” She looked up then, focused her eyes on the lines between his eyebrows “maybe if we could just focus on the work we’re supposed to be doing …?”

She managed to clear away the smudge on the side of her thumb and did a quick check to see if she’d missed more mascara that always seemed to mysteriously make its way onto her hands – nope, all clear.

“Felicity-” His voice was softer than she expected it to be.

She looked up then, unable to avoid his eyes any longer. God those eyes-, did she make a mistake, cutting him out of her life? No, that’s not why she was here; she had a job to do.

He looked as conflicted as she felt, though she couldn’t be sure because she wasn’t able to read him as easily as she used to.

Just as soon as she thought this, she could see his demeanor change, the way she used to see when his father walked into the room. His shoulders squared, his chin tilted down just a little and his brows drew closer together causing the lines between them to deepen. When he looked up at her from beneath his eyebrows she realized with a start that _she_ must have caused this reaction, because they were still the only two people in the room.

“You’re right,” was followed by what she thought was a scoffed ‘of course’ under his breath, “we’re just here together right now for the project. So, let’s talk business. How are the changes I last spoke about with your predecessor fitting into the project?”

And just like that, she was able to dive into work, her area of expertise, so much more logical than feelings and emotions. The realization that she now apparently evoked the same defense mechanism in him as his father did was something she would deal with later, preferably with a glass of red wine and when he wasn’t in the same room.

* * *

 

After the difficult start, the meeting had actually gone better than she had anticipated. They were able to work through a few kinks that had arisen due to the last minute changes he had insisted on, some she just thought were a waste of time and others that she knew she would probably have brought up herself had she been involved in the project earlier on.

The awkwardness returned full force however by the time they were wrapping up. It hadn’t completely left at any time during the meeting, but at least it was relatively easy to keep up the professionalism while working. By the time they were saying goodbye neither really knew what to do.

They both stood up and Tommy walked her to the glass door of the office, and had the meeting been with anyone else they would have shaken hands and made a reference to the next meeting.

Instead they just stood there, because when you’ve known each other for years but have become estranged, what do you do? Do you hug? No, they weren’t on good enough terms for that, nowhere even approaching good actually. Do you just shake hands? Probably the best idea. Or do you give an awkward wave and stumble over your own feet trying to get away as fast as possible from an awkward meeting? _Not_ the smoothest option, but apparently what her body decided to go with.

Right. Way to not make things more awkward then they already are.

He caught her elbow just before she was about to careen into the doorjamb. She had barely righted herself before he pulled his arm back like he’d been burned and stalked back past the conference table and got behind his desk. She heard the wheels of his office chair on the carpet as she walked through the door, avoiding the jamb this time, and as she looked back – just once – right before she was about to round a corner she could see him hunched over his desk, eyes focused solely back on his paperwork.

Glad she wouldn’t need to get back to her office she briefly considered getting a cab and heading home. She let her aching head fall back when she stepped outside and took in the fresh air that always seemed to follow a flash storm like the one from that afternoon. Letting out the first easy breath from that day, her feet took her away from the offices of Merlyn Global and she followed them easily.

Walking aimlessly through the city seemed like the thing to do. She was already wearing her flats so her feet wouldn’t suffer if she walked around for a while. She had a crick in her neck from the stressful meeting where she had gazed at her tablet more intently than was usual for her – which was saying something – and she had no idea what she was feeling, because there was just so much going on inside her head and heart.

She wasn’t all that familiar with the area surrounding MG, but she figured she’d just order a cab when she felt like heading home. After about ten minutes of aimlessly wandering she came across a small park with a couple swings and a slide. It was relatively quiet in the park; most kids had probably been chased inside during that afternoon’s storm.

The swings seemed like a perfect spot to let her thoughts run away with her without having to pay attention to her surroundings. Her head just wouldn’t shut down; the meeting that afternoon kept playing in her mind. He wasn’t wrong when he said she was the one to sever all ties. Ever since, she’d gone back and forth between being absolutely confident it had been the right thing to do and completely petrified it would turn out to be the biggest mistake she’d ever make.

From the moment she knew she would have to speak to him, meet with him regarding this deal, she was confident in her decision. As soon as she had seen him sitting in his office all the doubt had come flooding back in; it was a miracle she had made it through the meeting with just minor awkwardness. Ok, so it wasn’t exactly minor, but it could have been so much worse.

Truth of the matter is she misses him. So damn much. He was her best friend, the one she could talk to about everything and anything and he always managed to make a hard day lighter just by being Tommy. It's just that, stuff happened. She didn't trust him anymore with her secret thoughts, thoughts that weren't all that secret around him usually, because they just came spilling out of her mouth without her permission.

She didn't trust herself to keep her thoughts to herself around him, and she didn't trust him with those thoughts. In her mind that meant there was only one thing she could do, to protect herself, to not get hurt again, she couldn't see him anymore. And what better time to sever all ties than right after a huge fight where you already made clear not to want to see the other person ever again.

But god she _wants_ to trust him, because she misses her best friend. She just doesn't know how anymore. How do you build trust when it has been broken so thoroughly?

_Well, not by ignoring the guy even exists._

She'd managed to keep that particular voice quiet the last few weeks, but after seeing him it wasn't whispering in the back of her mind anymore. It was shouting at the top of its lungs; hard to keep ignoring.

Her butt was getting cold from sitting on the swing and she wasn't having any luck in quieting the voice that was arguing with her common sense. Might as well just head home and be warm and comfy on her couch with a well deserved Merlot and her Netflix queue.

She exited the park and walked back towards a slightly busier street to see if she could catch a cab without having to call for one. Side-stepping several puddles along the way, she managed to snag a cab without much trouble; seems like her luck got turned around as soon as she finished the dreaded meeting.

With a jolt she remembered her bout of bad luck from this morning. It already felt so long ago that she’d walked out the door and had locked herself out. She wouldn't be able to get in the door without swinging by Naomi's. With a groan she let her head fall back against the seat of the cab and told the cabby about the change in direction. It's not that she didn't want to see Naomi, she did. She just really didn't feel like explaining why she was in such a mood right now.

She could either just go with 'stressful day at the office' or with the more accurate 'you don't know this but over a year ago I cut the best friend I ever had out of my life and today I had to spend over an hour discussing business with him without breaking down' and she didn’t really think she could pull the first option off.

As far as she knew Naomi wasn’t aware she had ever been friends with Tommy in the first place and by the time Felicity thought she could talk about it with Naomi it had been too long. Naomi would either question why she hadn’t told her sooner or why she was bringing it up now. So she’d decided just to never bring it up, figuring it wouldn’t be a problem considering she never planned on crossing paths with Tommy Merlyn again.

She was fidgeting in her seat by the time the cab rolled up to her old apartment building. She wiped her hands on her skirt before reaching in her wallet and paying the cabby the fare and a nice tip; not every cabby was willing to drive through the Glades these days. She waved to the local boys hanging out on the steps of the building before heading inside.

Before moving to the townhouse on the edge of the Glades she’d lived here for years and she’d helped several of these boys out before, by getting their ancient laptops to run again at a huge discount and sometimes for free. They needed the computers for schoolwork and she’d felt a lot safer walking between the tiny workshop she’d opened up and her apartment when these boys escorted her on the walk.

Jogging up the flights of stairs to the third floor she decided she was now desperately in need of a shower. After running from the rain this afternoon and now running up the stairs, she felt altogether filthy. She made her way over to the door with the big ‘3-D’ on it, taking slow and measured steps through the hallway, hoping it would calm her racing heart a little.

She pushed the stray hairs that had gotten loose from her ponytail out of her face before knocking on the door three times in quick succession, slow breath, one more knock. She still felt silly doing that, but it made Naomi feel better knowing who was at the door without having to ask through a closed door.  

She took another breath, plastering a smile on her face in the hopes that Naomi wouldn’t immediately see through her. It was a long shot, but maybe she could pretend to be ok so she could just process by herself tonight, before having to divulge the entire story to Naomi. She was too drained to want to relive it all tonight.

The door flew open “Hey y-, oh, hi Felicity! Didn’t know you were coming over?” Naomi exclaimed slightly breathless.

“Eh, well we didn’t have plans but… I locked myself out? Just thought I’d swing by and get my spare from you? Are you ok?” She watched as Naomi’s bronze cheeks got a slight red flush and her lips stretched in a slightly wider than usual grin.

“I’m fine! Perfect really, stay right there I’ll get your keys.”

Before Felicity had time to realize she hadn’t been invited into her friend’s apartment, said friend was back at the door, keys in hand.

“Here you go; Friday night drinks tomorrow? I’ll explain everything!”

“Sure, bring your own cider though; I don’t keep that stuff stocked.” Felicity’s smile was a lot more real now. It didn’t take a lot of effort to smile when your friend was so obviously happy.

“Don’t worry I will, I’ll even bring you a bottle of red. We’ve got a lot to discuss!” She waggled her eyebrows and the grin never left her face.

“I can see that,” Felicity replied “you didn’t even realize it was me at the door when I used my special knock and everything! Is this how you start forgetting me? Are you replacing me with someone better?”

“Never! I am however not finished getting ready for my big date with the person that’s definitely not replacing you, so scram woman!”

Felicity threw her hands up in the air as she started walking away. “Fine, fine, I know when I’m unwanted. I’ll just go home all by my lonesome.”

“Love you!” Naomi yelled just before she turned the corner to the stairwell and she heard the door of the apartment getting slammed shut. Naomi never was one for quiet and subtlety.

With a genuine smile on her face – in part because of her happy friend and admittedly also in part because Naomi had been so distracted she hadn’t noticed Felicity’s sullen mood – she slowly started descending the stairs and got out her phone to call yet another cab. She really needed to get her car fixed, because these cabs were putting a serious dent in her already tight budget.

Keys in hand and a cab on the way, she could finally head home and wallow with some comfort food and that glass of Merlot she’d been looking forward to pretty much since she’d seen Tommy sitting behind his desk, seemingly completely focused on his paperwork.

* * *

 


End file.
